Five Frugal Things
by Katy on October 16, 2025 · 8 comments
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I took fifteen minutes out of my day and got a free updated Covid-19 vaccine booster at CVS. I was given a $10-off-$20 coupon, but was in the mood to pay it forward, so I gave it to someone who was checking out.
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I went over to my daughter’s apartment and helped her spruce it up, making it as cute as possible as she’s looking for a prospective new roommate. Didn’t cost us anything more than an hour or so of elbow grease.
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I walked all our clamshell plastics recycling over to New Season’s Market. (Like Whole Foods, but pseudo-local/actually owned by a South Korean conglomerate.) A lot of people in my neighborhood pay for Ridwell, which is a $20/month recycling service, but I’ve figured out all the free recycling hacks for what the city doesn’t take with curbside pickup. Like IKEA for light bulbs and Goodwill for electronics.
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I didn’t buy a four-pack of lime & salt “Non-Alcoholic Spritz,” which was on sale for $22.99! Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t a “non-alcoholic spritz” just code for flavored seltzer?!
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Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Ghia is a mocktail with more ingredients than seltzer
But still… that price!!
That’s a shocking price for seltzer. Did they put a decimal point in the wrong place?
I built up enough points with Barnes and Noble to get $5 off books. This took about a year as I buy discounted books.
The city garbage truck smashed the lid of our trash cart all to bits, so DH called and explained the situation. We are getting a free replacement lid.
Our neighbors needed some bricks to build bases for raised garden beds and we had many scrap bricks from digging up an old patio. They gave us persimmons and a potted plant in return for the bricks.
Turned some wafer-thin pork chops bought on discount into a pan of sweet chili pork and veggies. Made chocolate pudding to use up a package of dry milk.
1. Picked up a heavy-weight, clear plastic sack, a very large commercial one that held several cases of paper towels, from work. It was destined for the trash, but I took it home. Now I have either a painter’s drop cloth or a large (contractor’s size) garbage bag, depending on what I use the freebie for. I may start collecting my soft drink cans in it because I’m about to take in the contractor’s bag, filled with many, many cans after almost a year, to the scrapyard for recycling. Aluminum cans are now 65 cents a pound.
2. We had six packs of 16.9 fluid ounce bottles of Dr Pepper*on sale for $2.99. Bought one, and am drinking it up. But I’m saving the plastic bottles to be refilled from my 2L bottles of DP*. (*Actually, it’s No Sugar DP for me these days.) Handy on-the-go drink bottles!
3. Since our mornings are in the upper 60 to 70-something degree range, I’ve been shutting down the HVAC system and letting in fresh air. And reading books on the patio. (Just started “Coming Up Short” by Robert Reich. Really enjoying it! And learning a LOT!)
4. While thrifting, I found a whole ream of (never-used, still in shrink wrap) laser printer paper that had the cross motif on it. I think it was 75 to 100 sheets all total, looked very nice and expensive — but it was $1.99, less my senior discount. Grabbed it up and donated it to the church office. They’ll certainly find a use for it!
5. Excavated my out-of-season clothing storage and am wearing my Halloween T-shirts. Still too warm for sweat shirts). Will NOT be buying any seasonal clothing or decor this year…..unless you count the Scary Trumpkin sign in my yard that I purchased for Halloween and the upcoming No Kings protest. I bought it for a good cause, namely saving our nation from you-know-who and his merry band of MAGAts trying to disband our democratic form of government.
>>>>> Oh, BTW here’s my timely idea for a Halloween party cake: bake it in the form of RFK Jr.’s head and have candy gummy worms coming out of his skull. (The area where his brain should’ve been). You can put holes in the top of the cake to symbolize all the holes in his head and then stick the gummy worms to look like they’re oozing out. Serve with cupcakes or cookies decorated to look like great big scary viruses/germs (since he is so anti-vaccine, get it?)
1. Took advantage of Fred Meyer’s (Kroger’s) “but 5 or more and save $1 off each” deals and paired with their store coupons and online pick up I saved just over $50. I got coffee, dairy free coffee creamer, and vegan cheese shreds. My husband was able to pick everything up on his lunch break and didn’t have to deal with the after work rush.
2. Walked the kids to the library to get some free exercise for all of us. We brought a few snacks in the stroller that they ate on the walk there and while they ran around the fenced green spaced outside.
3. Returned a book and checked out a few for the kiddos. While checking out a volunteer let me know an a free pizza event a community partner will be putting on in their community room on Halloween for little kids.
4. My husband is meeting someone for a FB Marketplace sale tonight so he’s taking advantage of our free, through his company, membership at the Y to go to the gym and then will go on a grocery run to WinCo for the things I didn’t have better prices for at Fred Meyer.
5. He brought a lunch and a sandwich for dinner tonight so he wouldn’t stop somewhere while he runs around. Since it’s just me and the kiddos for dinner we’re going to skip the planned meal and eat up leftovers and have an easy night. Tonight was supposed to be chicken and dumplings, all of which was prepped and frozen in individual ingredients, so I don’t have to scramble to use it up.
I don’t know what to make of that seltzer price. I wouldn’t pay that for a 12-pack.
1. Made shepherd’s pie using geriatric vegetables.
2. Transferred a chunk of money from our online bank account to a brokerage account earning more interest.
3. Received a call from the carpet company that did our new stairway carpet. A few months ago, they erroneously bound the edges, thinking it was going to be a runner. They quickly installed the correct carpet. Last week, I got a call from the warehouse that the incorrect piece was still in their warehouse. We picked it up to use somewhere someday.
4. Received a new gas card from the dealership where we bought our used car three years ago. The current one was set to expire on January 31, 2026 but they had to issue new cards due to a technical change at the pump. As a result, they reissued cards and extended the expiration date to September 30, 2028. This card provides 10 cents off per gallon and discounted car washes at Holiday and Circle K gas stations.
5. Filled up my gas tank using the card for 10 cents off each gallon. Last time I filled up was several weeks ago. One of the few benefits of being sick.
BFF from So Cal visited for a few days. We did some thrifting.
She brought me a coat and a dress she did want and I sent her back with a couple of shirts
Getting ready for my sisters garage sale this weekend.
Used $10 United healthcare rewards to pick up some groceries
1. I am flying out to visit my son in Oregon at the end of the month. A friend and I did a dry run of going to O’Hare by bus — which is free to me. We figured it out, but I will say that airport is quite intimidating.
2. We bought lunch at the airport, which was not frugal at all — $25 for a Farmers Fridge salad, coffee and M&M’s.
3. Had another rather costly meal at a favorite cafe yesterday — $30, but enough food for two meals afterwards.
4. Bought a mug and a batter bowl at Goodwill — was going to resell the bowl, but I decided I liked it too much,
5. Found 11¢!
I love seltzer, but would never pay that! Craziness!
Got our zero balance letter for paying off our windows early! We had started replacing a few at a time, then got a good deal with Thompson Creek, so we did them all (we have a lot of windows! Including 3 bay windows.) Put a good chunk down, but it was definitely a loan we wanted done with and had no intention of paying more interest than necessary. House is next!
Bought 5lbs of $1.99 a lb chicken breasts. Had chicken shwarma tonight with yougurt dill sauce. Very yummy. Have at least 3 other meals planned. Often one breast feeds the 3 of us.
The weather has been cooling so we’ve had the ac off for two weeks. Don’t think we’ll need heat until November.
Went thifting with DS and saw absolutely nothing we wanted. The men’s clothing section wasn’t bad, but didn’t have anything he was looking for. I did pick up a new box of glass Christmas tree ornaments, but decided they weren’t a close enough match to those we already have. I was disappointed that the pickings weren’t better, but glad we didn’t buy stuff just to buy.
DH and I took several boxes of books into our local used book store. We got about $90 in cash and trade. I’ll use some of the trade to get a few puzzles or games to take to family gatherings over the holidays. Thankfully it never expires because our goal is to cut down the number of books!
Enjoying walks in the woods for free exercise this week and planning to add in a free yoga class or two from our county rec center.